Communities in rural Zambia have a brighter future thanks to a Halcrow Foundation-funded project that provides solar-powered lighting to five schools.
Daylight in Zambia usually lasts around 12 hours per day. This is time for families in rural areas to work the land around their homes, gather food and water and travel to markets to sell produce. Education gives children and adults a valuable opportunity to escape this cycle of poverty and have a better future, but it has to fit around important daytime work or be done after dark by the light of candles and kerosene lamps.
Simple solution
Halcrow Foundation is funding a project by Lights for Learning, a UK-based charity that provides and installs solar-powered lighting in schools, clinics and other places of learning. It’s a simple solution that has a big impact on communities, allowing pupils to study for longer in safely-lit classrooms and giving teachers longer to mark, plan and help them with their homework. As well as raising educational standards, this inspires adults to use their evenings to return to school and young people to see a future for themselves beyond subsistence living.
James Bwalya, Head Teacher of Kankumba Primary School in Rufunsa, says: “Kankumba Primary School has 1,025 pupils travelling in from 12 villages, the furthest of which is 10 kilometres away, which they walk each way every day. Some classes start 7am. To improve pupil performance we need power. The school conducts evening classes but there is the serious challenge of lighting. The computer lab has no power and we are currently using a generator set which is very expensive to run. It is therefore important that we have power for effective teaching and learning of lessons. We also have a safe house (boarding for girls) and offices that need power.”
Training opportunities
Lights for Learning also works with the Council of Churches in Zambia to train unemployed men and women to build and fit the lighting systems. The charity already manufactures solar powered equipment in the UK, including lighting systems for schools, mobile phone chargers and borehole pumping systems. By training local adults in Lusaka, these skills are transferred to Zambia and the team can continue manufacturing lighting systems there. This method of upskilling local people benefits the wider community by improving job prospects and ensuring the project’s sustainability.
Photo credit: Lights for Learning
